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Alcohol Licensing – Regulatory Easements: Consultation on options for permanent provisions

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: My rt hon Friend the Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire (Chris Philp) has today made the following Written Ministerial Statement:The Government is today launching a consultation on alcohol licensing regulatory easements. Our objective is to support businesses as they deal with ongoing economic and financial challenges and the effects of the pandemic, cutting red tape whilst making sure that local authorities can recover their costs without an additional burden on central government finances. The Licensing Act 2003 allows premises licence holders to sell alcohol for consumption on site, off site or both. The holder of an on-sales licence can apply to their Licensing Authority for a variation if they wish to add off-sales to their licence. Provisions in the Business and Planning Act 2020 enabled on-sales premises licence holders to automatically also do off-sales, without any need to amend their licence. The Licensing Act 2003 also allows licensable activities to be carried out on a one-off basis without the need for a premises licence or any other authorisation, by means of a temporary event notice.  Provisions in the Business and Planning Act 2020 temporarily increased the annual number of Temporary Event Notices that a licensed premise user can have in respect of a premises from 15 to 20. We are consulting to understand whether there is support for making the regulatory easements permanent, in some form, or whether to return to the provisions in the Licensing Act. We will at the same time carry out a survey of local authorities so that we can better understand their actual costs for processing and enforcing licensing legislation. The consultation will run for eight weeks and the Government will publish its response in early summer 2023. We intend to make any changes related to the consultation as soon as parliamentary time allows thereafter. A copy of the consultation will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses and published on Gov.UK.

Extending licensing hours to mark His Majesty The King’s Coronation

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: My rt hon Friend the Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire (Chris Philp) has today made the following Written Ministerial Statement:The Government has consulted on, and will be proceeding with, the proposal to make a Licensing Hours Order under Section 172 of the Licensing Act 2003 to relax licensing hours in England and Wales to mark the His Majesty The King’s Coronation. The order is intended to enable people in England and Wales properly to celebrate the constitutional, historic, and momentous significance of the Coronation of The King and the beginning of his Reign. The Order will apply to premises already licensed until 11pm for the sale of alcohol for consumption on the premises, for the provision of late-night refreshment (only where there is also the sale of alcohol for consumption on the premises), and for the provision of regulated entertainment in England and Wales. The Order will extend the licensing hours for such premises from 11pm to 1am the following day, on Friday 5 May, Saturday 6 May, and Sunday 7 May. An Economic Assessment is being prepared and will be published alongside the Order on legislation.gov.uk.